Wings Redux Alternate
by Myra the Sark
Summary: Look inside for details. This is basically a reformatted version of the ORIGINAL idea for "Wings". No new chapter until the latest one has a review. No longer being continued.
1. Chapter 1

**First off: if anyone is wondering, the first four chapters of this will come up, and then I'll put up a poll asking which one I should continue. ****_Kapeesh_****? ~Myra**

* * *

"Lock, Jaw of Light!" Chase yelled. His Monsuno complied—the attack hit Driftblade head-on. Meanwhile, the other Core-Tech Monsunos were in battle with Crossbolt and Skysite.

_Figures they'd find us eventually,_ Chase thought. _It's been three weeks since we saw 'em._

It actually wasn't that long until Crossbolt and Skysite were sent hurtling back into their cores. And apparently these Elites were newly-appointed—they ran away screaming. "Get back here zhis instant!" Charlemagne shouted at them. No dice. Her face reddened, and she glared at them. "Driftblade, Plasma Barrage!" The lion Monsuno dashed toward Lock, and Chase was all set to give a command…

When strange objects suddenly latched onto all six Monsunos that were out. "What in blue blazes…?" Dax began questioningly. Suddenly the objects let out a strong electric discharge—enough to make Chase's hair stick up on end. In exactly seven seconds the Monsunos shot back into their cores, most likely for a good long while. "Uh, what just happened?" Bren asked.

Chase looked at Charlemagne—but she looked just as confused, if not more. Then two more things bounced into the clearing. They were shaped like hockey pucks, but Chase had feeling that wasn't what they were.

And he was right—they both suddenly let out something that looked like white smoke, and a sickly-sweet smell hit his nose. "Wait, that's…!" Bren exclaimed, but he trailed off. Chase's vision swam, and before he knew it he went down, out cold.

* * *

The crimson-eyed man smirked before going to investigate his quarry. Five were teens, all appearing well-traveled, what with lean physiques. Yeah, one looked scrawnier than the others, but still.

Then he turned his attention to the other one, the only adult. He frowned—he knew her. Too well. _Ah well. The more the merrier…_

He raised his communicator to his face. "I've caught six new subjects, five teens and one adult—four males, two females. All look suitable to be avian hybrids."

"Roger that," the voice on the other end said. "We'll send a transport."

* * *

Chase had to force his eyes open. He immediately realized he was in a building. _Where are we?_

Wherever he was, it was dimly lit—only one lamp was on, hanging from the ceiling. As his eyes adjusted, tried crawling forward a little, but his face smashed into something cold and hard. He felt at it, and with a jolt, realized that they were bars. And after examining his surroundings more carefully, he realized he was in a cage.

A dog cage. Kanine Kamper brand, size medium.

"Bren?" he spoke out. "Jinja? Beyal? Dax?"

He heard a groan, and saw a movement. "Where in blue blazes are we?" he heard Dax groan. Then, "Hey, my cores are gone!"

Chase's hand instantly flew to where he kept Lock and Evo's cores, and realized that they were gone too. He saw Beyal sit up—distinguishable by his white hair. "Where are we?" he asked no one in particular.

"No clue," Chase responded. "But we're in dog cages."

"_Huh?!_" Now Jinja flew up, smashing her head on the cage roof in the meantime.

Bren also looked up, his glasses lopsided on his face. "Cages?" he asked, feeling above him and in front of him. He started to sound panicked. "But how!?"

"Someone got us," Chase explained. "Don't know who."

The controller was then aware that it wasn't just his friends in the room. He looked to one side and saw what looked like a little kid staring at him. "Uh, hi," he said, crawling forward. The kid mumbled something incomprehensible. "What's your name?" he continued. "Mine's Chase."

More murmuring. And now that Chase looked closer, he saw that the kid was covered in scaly patches, as in _scales_, like a fish's. Not to mention finned ears, he noted. It didn't look very pleasant.

The boy never said anything in response, but he looked scared, and backed against his cage side that was farthest from Chase.

Another shuffling sound made them all look across the aisle, where some larger crates were. Immediately Chase was on edge: it was Charlemagne. In the same predicament as them. She looked shocked at first, until she noticed them. "You…!" she snarled, reaching for Driftblade—only to find that she didn't have it.

Any further conversation was halted when suddenly a door opened, letting light flood in. Their eyes narrowed against the sudden whiteness, and four people came in. All were unnaturally pale, and had bright-green eyes that Chase saw were slitted, like snakes'. One sneered at him before picking his crate up and moving it onto a large flatbed cart, along with Bren's and Jinja's. The other three were put onto a separate cart, and two of the weird guys began wheeling the carts down the hall.

* * *

Jinja didn't know what was going on. When Chase had said that they were in dog cages, she had flung herself up, not believing it—until she banged her head on the roof.

The hallway was bright, and smelled like floor cleaner and other chemical smells. She didn't like it—this whole place felt wrong.

Behind them, Charlemagne was yelling all sorts of threats at those guys. Finally the one that was just walking alongside literally snarled and kicked her crate hard. "Shut up you!" he snapped. For a moment Jinja thought that the blond woman would say something else and probably make it worse, but she apparently thought better of it and stayed quiet. She didn't look too happy about it, though.

In the next minute they were brought into a room with several people in white lab coats, as well as several metal tables.

"Let us go right now!" Chase demanded.

The scientists looked surprised. "Incredible," one said. "It speaks."

Jinja fumed. _IT?!_

Apparently she wasn't the only one angry about it. One of the guys made the fatal flaw of opening Charlemagne's crate. Immediately she pretty much attacked the guy—although one of the creepy men grabbed one of her arms and twisted back hard.

"Watch it," another scientist said. "Don't damage the merchandise." Then his eyes narrowed. "So that's it? That's the special one?"

Jinja's eyes narrowed. _What's so special about _her_ of all people?_ While she was distracted, one of the scientists—as they seemed like scientists of some kind—roughly shoved her onto one of the tables. The same was done with the others.

Some of the scientists approached them, holding syringes filled with a luminous green liquid. One scientist in particular stood out to her—he was pale like those other guys, also with black hair. Except he had bright, ice-blue eyes.

When Jinja saw Bren start struggling wildly—though in vain—she copied. If the geek was acting like that, then the stuff was probably poison or something. The scientist that had approached her then grabbed her by her hair and smashed her head down onto the table as well. She went slack and the world blurred at the edges of her vision. While she was still dizzy, the man gripped the syringe and jammed it into a vein. The same happened to the others. And as he pushed the handle down, Jinja felt nothing, but as soon as he took it out…

To put it plainly…

The room exploded.

Violent red, blue and green clouded her vision as she heard some kind of high-pitched sound. Whatever that stuff was, it surely felt like poison, burning like liquid white-hot fire.

All of them shared one thought: _What did he do? It hurts _so_ much! Make it stop, _please_ MAKE IT STOP!_

Fractured memories and broken images flashed through her mind. Vaguely she was aware that she heard shrieking—might've been her, might've been all of them—and everything seemed to go white…and then black; she sunk into much-welcomed unconsciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

When Bren next came-to, the burning sensation was gone and he felt normal. He didn't know how long he was out for, but his mind was all foggy. That was with no doubt the worst thing that had ever happened to him. He wondered what the vial contained—it must have been something very strong.

When his senses came back, he realized he was in a new room, _not _in a cage. His friends plus Charlemagne were all sprawled out around the room. "Guys?" he asked, suddenly worried. His voice sounded twice more pathetic than usual. His relief had no bounds when he heard Chase groan.

"What happened?" he mumbled raspily, sitting up.

"And what the crag was that green stuff?" Dax asked, voice still holding traces of pain. Bren stood and took a few steps forward, but a sharp pain in his back made him stumble. This was certainly nothing compared to what he had felt prior, but it was like something was developing _inside_ his back, struggling to get free.

"At least we're not in cages," Chase said, looking around. Another shard of pain shot up Bren's back again, but more powerful than the first— it sent him falling forward onto the floor. But what was it?

"Beyal? Jinja? Are you both okay?" Chase asked.

"I am fine, but…" Beyal trailed off, both his gray-blue eyes and voice thick with pain. "I do not understand why those people would do s-such a horrible thing to us."

"Me either, but whoever they are, they're bad news," Jinja said, also sitting up. She jerked suddenly, and said, "Okay, who hit me?"

"Don't look at me, princess," Dax said from behind her. "I felt the same thing."

"Same here," Bren said while pushing himself onto his knees and wincing as another one shot through. "And whatever that stuff was it was probably strong and undiluted."

Chase looked thoughtful for a moment, and turned to look at Charlemagne, who had just stood up—and suddenly flinched, looking around confusedly. She seemed to realize something, and said, "Zhat vasn't _poison_, vas it?"

There was no response from any of them. Mainly because they all felt the same way.

* * *

Beyal didn't know how much time passed—he had no idea of how long they were unconscious.

The sun had set by now, but he had no idea what time it was. The door was locked from the outside. So, in the meantime, he meditated. Of course there were those sharp pains to deal with, but he became accustomed to them—although the intensity was gradually increasing. Jinja had drifted into an uneasy sleep, as had Chase and Bren. Dax was still partially awake, drumming his fingers on the floor. Charlemagne was at the other end of the room, looking half-asleep—she hadn't tried killing them yet, which was good…and confusing.

It was nothing but silence, for an eternity it seemed. And for how much longer?

* * *

The sun shone through the window as Dax woke up. He sat up, staring at the window. It was very small and barred—so much for escaping that way. There was a ventilation duct above, but it looked bolted into place.

He looked around the room, observing the others. He was the only one awake, it looked like. Chase, Bren, and Jinja were all curled together, while it appeared as if Beyal had fallen asleep while meditating. Soldier-lady was also out of it.

Still, he was glad to be in an actual room and not a cage. It was fairly sized—enough to walk around and stretch. At that moment Chase suddenly woke up—as in, the jump-up-and-look-around-crazily type of wake-up. Feeling the sudden movement, both Bren and Jinja jolted awake and standing, and Beyal opened his eyes at hearing the sudden noise.

No response from Charlemagne. _Hah. She didn't seem like a heavy sleeper, _Dax remarked mentally.

* * *

Chase sighed. "We need to find a way out of here," he said.

"You think we haven't thought of that already?" Dax remarked dryly.

"Chase, _how_ are we supposed to get out of here?!" Bren shouted. "We don't have our cores, we don't have the Core-Tablet—we got nothing! _Nothing_!" Out of the corner of his eye, Chase saw Charlemagne glance at them, looking somewhat irritated. As well as still half-asleep.

Jinja opened her mouth to say something—probably yell at him for being Mr. Negative, but she didn't. A strange, shivery feeling came over Chase, like the type when you _know_ something bad was going to happen. There was dead silence. And then—

Someone ran a knife down his back. "Aghhh!" he screamed. The pain was so sudden, and was over just as quickly. He fell onto his hands, panting heavily. Stars flew in front of his eyes for a few seconds. Looking up, he saw the others in a similar state—Bren had fallen onto his hands and was shaking, and so was Jinja. Beyal's eyes were wide and pupils were constricted so that they were practically pinpoints. Dax hadn't cried out, though his expression gave away that he had felt it as well—whatever IT was. Charlemagne was wide-awake now, clearly having felt the same thing, and was looking around wildly.

Chase looked around. No scientists in sight. Another stab of pain made him gasp, and he turned his head, feeling for a wound. When he took his hand away from his back, it was soaked in blood. He heard Jinja say, "What was _that_?" in a shaky tone.

More, smaller jolts of pain raced through him as Chase slowly sat down. What was making him bleed like this? Why so sudden? He _just_ woke up!

Now he could feel the blood, thick and wet, clumped on his skin, sticking to his clothes. He was beginning to feel weak. He looked at the others, and they were all shaking as well, also bleeding heavily. His jacket was going to be _so_ wrecked, as with Dax's and Charlemagne's, and Beyal's cloak.

When Chase focused on Bren—who was still lying on the ground, quivering—he saw something that made him instantly feel like he was going to lose his lunch right then and there. Chase could see, under the blood and twisted pieces of fabric, something that _should not_ be there. Something slimy and boned that poked out of his skin…

Another wave of pain was all that was required to send him hurtling into complete unconsciousness…again.


	3. Chapter 3

Jinja forced her eyes open. She dimly noticed that someone had come and bandaged her back and wiped the blood away, but she still _hurt_. Looking around, she saw the others waking up as well. But what had attacked them? The others had picked themselves up, looking just as pained and confused.

The hurt came and went. It felt as if someone was slowly lacerating their backs, cutting them open. At another point the scientists tied them down to the floor, so they couldn't even move. It even got so bad that they all eventually started slipping in and out of consciousness, to stay away from the agony…and from the sounds of the others' and their own screams. It also intensified to a degree where she was totally sore all over.

This would _definitely _lead to some kind of post-traumatic stress disorder…

* * *

The Hunter scowled down at the adult female. Amazingly she was still alive, to the scientists' shock. Most adults whose DNA had been altered died within either the first week or the first day. But this one—the Commandant-Marshal of STORM, to be precise—had tenaciously clung to life.

Although she was in a truly pathetic state—shivering incessantly and letting out small, pathetic-sounding whimpers every few seconds. Same thing with those other ones.

They were in a world of agony right now, no doubt about it. It was amazing that they were all conscious right now, actually. "You're pathetic, you know that?" the Hunter said aloud.

All he got in response from Charlemagne was uncomprehending, glazed-eyed blink. Right…she probably was unable to think straight at the moment.

Before he turned to leave, he kicked her for spite, getting a pained, strangled yelp out of her. One part of him wanted to do it again. Another part screamed at him to not.

Alpha didn't know which to listen to.

* * *

On what maybe seemed like the second week after the pains began, Jinja finally got the nerve to ask what had been hovering in her mind. "What's happening to us?"

First came silence. Then, Chase said, "I couldn't tell ya, Jin. I couldn't tell ya." But then again, she—and the others, it seemed—had long since figured that the pain was not coming from the outside…but the inside. Something from the inside was continuously slicing their backs open, though none of them knew what, exactly. Though Jinja had an idea that it had to do with the green stuff that had been injected into them on day one; it had obviously triggered some kind of reaction inside of them.

A few more days came and passed. The cutting sensations were getting fewer and further in between. Then they stopped altogether.

They all looked up sharply when they heard a door open, and a group of scientists crowded into the room. One stepped forward, a woman with dirty-blond hair, and started speaking. "As you can see, these are among the first successful avian-human hybrids that we have been able to produce. The previous experiments had all expired soon after the effects of the formula we injected them with. We don't know what is different about this batch that made them survive out of all the others, but we can have you examine them later; the new Calder-Danaus growth procedure obviously worked, as you can tell. Come with me, and I have some more information about this particular recombinant group down the hall…" But before they were entirely out of earshot, the woman shouted, "And will one of you go and untie the darn things?"

One scientist rushed back in and began untying them, one by one. Normally, as soon as she was free, Jinja would've laid a beatdown on the guy. But her mind was elsewhere—with what the woman had said.

_Calder-Danaus…I don't know what that means._

_Other hybrids? What does that mean?_

_And human-avian hybrids…so that pain _must_ be…_

After untying all of them, the scientist hurried out like they carried a plague. Standing shakily, Jinja reached a hand toward where the pain had always come from. Something was definitely on there, something heavy that was weighing her down. "Jinja." Chase sounded tense. She looked, and saw that the others were looking at her with a mixture of shock and—wonder? More specifically, they were looking at something on her back.

"Chase," she asked, an idea forming. "Could you turn around?"

He complied, and Jinja started violently.

On her friend's back were a set of wings.

They had no feathers or color, just skin stretched over a set of bones. They were small and limp, but what they were was still the same. He had _wings_.

She was pretty sure she was in hysteria for a moment before she realized what it meant. The others followed her gaze, and instantly felt at their own backs. Bren babbled something, and Beyal gasped. Dax's eyes widened and he exclaimed "What the…?" wonderingly.

Charlemagne hesitated before doing the same, and she immediately said "_Mein Gott_" in a clearly-shocked tone. Jinja smirked a bit at her expression.

Jinja reached behind her again, and no one stopped her. She flinched when her hand came into contact with skin and bone when there should have been nothing. They were slick with remnants of blood and something else she didn't want to know about.

But the fact remained. They were a far cry from "normal" now.

* * *

After the shock wore off, all of them stared at each other. Bren was left in a state of mute shock. _How can we have wings? It just isn't…isn't possible…_ An idea formed in his head suddenly. It was an absurd one, but still…

Eyes narrowing in concentration, he tried to reach into some nerve cells that must be there now, and tried to move one of his new limbs. Nothing.

He tried again. Nada.

_This is impossible. How can I move something that I've never had before?_ He decided to add logic to it. _If there are skin cells…there's nerve cells. So…maybe I just gotta get some feeling in 'em._ He slowly reached behind and lightly brushed a finger along one of his own wings, feeling the patterns and bumps. It was like a spider's web, really complicated yet delicate. The skin felt like it could break apart under his fingers at any second and he could feel the new, fragile bones. There were multiple ridges/pockmarks that felt like they'd sprout feathers at one point. Some sort of feeling sparked within him as soon as he did. The hair on the back of his neck stood straight up. Determined, he tried moving that same wing again…and it quivered. Then spread slightly. His brown eyes lit up in a mix of wonder and delight. They were defying every single law of nature, but…it felt _right_.

The others stared in wide-eyed amazement. Beyal gained a blank look, and he copied what Bren did. The same thing occurred. His friends mimicked him, and smiles formed on their faces. The Commandant-Marshal still seemed to be trying to process this new information.

Suddenly the door opened. Impulsively all of them jumped backwards, as it was one of those pale-skinned guys. Immediate bad memories. Except this one had yellow eyes.

"Well, well," he drawled. "Look at you lot. Winged freaks." He chuckled.

"Beta," a scientist who had come in behind him warned.

"Lemme have some fun with 'em," the thing said. And then he grinned, showing that he had nothing but canine teeth, ivory-white and sharp as knives. Then he started _changing_. Slowly, his features seemed to stretch, his nose and mouth being pulled until it became a snout, his hands turned into paws, and claws grew out of his fingernails. Scales appeared over his skin, and the whites of his eyes vanished, replaced with more crimson. He shot up in stature and in size too. It was a…a…Bren didn't know _what_ it was. It looked like some sort of chimeric demon—one name sense for it: Hunter, since things thing looked pure predator—wolf, snake, human…all the best features. They'd all dealt with many things, but this one left them all feeling the same—they were all scared beyond belief.


	4. Chapter 4

Chase blindly ran through the maze, his sight blurry. This was the seventh one he'd had to go through within an hour, and he knew he wouldn't be able to keep it up for much longer. If he slowed down, either he received an electric shock strong enough to scramble his senses or the flooring burned his feet. There was also the risk of running on razor wire if he took a wrong turn.

Finally he sensed the lighting become brighter—he was out—and he let himself fall down, panting heavily. He was _exhausted_.

"Huh. Slower than last time. Think we're overworking it?" one scientist asked.

_I am _not_ an _it_!_ He desperately wanted to scream that. But his throat was so dry…

"Eh, bring it back to the room. Go get Subjects 4 and 5."

"Which ones are those again?"

"The one with white hair is Subject 4, you idiot! Subject 5 is the Lowlander. Actually, go get Subject 2 as well—it's due for endurance testing. And before you ask, it's the one with the glasses." Chase barely saw the scientist shake his head. "Ah, I'll go get them. You get Subject 1 something to drink." Before he left, he stopped again, and said, "And I better do some tests on Subject 6. Need to figure out how long it can hold its breath underwater…"

Chase didn't even bother protest to being called "it." It just went to show that they were no more than lab-rats to these "scientists." Chase drained the juice-box he was given within half a minute.

They'd been in the Institute—as it was called—for almost a month, it looked like. Day after day they'd had to go through tests like this. He made sure to mutter a warning to the others as he passed them.

* * *

It wasn't until sundown that the others were brought back. Beyal was shaking slightly and looked tired, and Dax wasn't responding to any questions that Jinja asked. Chase was guessing that Beyal had to go through the maze, and that Dax had to fight another experiment—most likely a Hunter.

Bren was pretty much out cold, and had literally been thrown back into the room. The glasses-wearing teen was downright exhausted. Charlemagne was soaking wet for some reason—she wasn't making a sound. She seemed…freaked out, judging by the look in her eyes. Chase had a guess on what happened.

Despite what he thought, Chase was glad that _all_ of them were there—if he'd been alone…well, he probably would have lost it in the first week. He was sure all of the others felt the same way—even if they didn't say so.

Chase had been right in assuming that his jacket would be horribly stained—the white part was now dark-red on the back from dried blood. He paled slightly even looking at it. If anything, Charlemagne's expensive-looking white jacket got it the worst. She wouldn't even look at it.

Beyal stood up after a few moments. Chase looked at him. "Beyal, what…?" He trailed off. To his surprise, the white-haired teen slowly walked over to Charlemagne, sitting down next to her before closing his eyes. She glanced at him, clearly put-off.

Chase was as well, but then he smiled a bit. _Well, we're in the same situation…so I guess Beyal's justified in this case._

* * *

The next morning Chase awoke to the strangest sensation he'd ever felt. It was also very itchy. Mumbling to himself, he reached to quell the itch—and stopped. He felt something…soft. "What the…?" He looked, and his eyes widened. What had used to be nothing but skin stretched over muscle and bone was now covered in fuzzy white stuff. He ran a finger through it, wondering what it was.

Then it hit him like a cinder block. _I have down feathers._ "Guys?" he said, sounding weird—or, weird_er_ than usual. All of them held a weariness in their voices now…probably from all the things they had to do day after day.

The others lifted their heads, blinking sleepily. "What now, Suno?" Dax asked irritably.

"I have down feathers."

"_WHAT?_" They all took account of themselves, apparently finding the same thing.

"Incredible," Beyal breathed out.

"You can say that again," Bren said, brushing his fingers through the down on his small wings.

All of them jumped when the door suddenly opened, and a scientist came in, holding a girl who looked maybe twelve years old. He dropped her unceremoniously, and left the room, door clicking shut behind him. She had brown hair that was tied into a ponytail, and was wearing jean-shorts and a faded-green T-shirt that had neat cuts in the back—obviously artificial.

The girl sat up instantly, showing downy wings. Her hazel-blue eyes fell on them, and they hardened. "Who are you?" she asked warily.

"Uh, my name's Chase," he introduced, recovering his wits first. "What's yours?"

"Not yet. What about you guys?" She gestured around at the others. They introduced themselves in turn, looking bemused.

She huffed, and said, "I'm Otulissa…named myself after a book character. Call me Lissa." Chase grinned—first time in a whole month. _She seems friendly._

"So…um, Lissa, how long have you been here?" Jinja asked.

Otulissa closed her eyes before saying, "Truthfully, I got transferred her from a different lab, but most of my life I've lived in hellholes like this. Far as I know, I was brought in when I was two years old. I barely remember my parents…if I even had parents."

"Ouch," Dax muttered.

"Yeah, that bites," Bren said.

"What about you guys?" Otulissa asked. "I mean, you live in the system your whole lives, too?"

"N-No," Chase said fast. He couldn't begin to image what that would have been like. "We—got abducted from a campsite."

The girl snorted. "These guys are starting to get to a _fifteen_ on the diabolical scale of one-through-ten."

Suddenly she asked, "What's wrong with you guys? I mean, there's no person here who's normal. So what's your lot's deal?"

"Um…same as you, actually."

"Seriously? Let me look!"

Chase turned, showing his white-fuzz wings. She stared, and said, "No feathers yet? Darn."

Then, turning toward Charlemagne, Otulissa said, "At least _you've _always—"

"No."

The new girl looked severely confused. "Um…could you say that again please?"

"I _haven't_ alvays been here."

Otulissa then looked freaked out. "How am I supposed to put this…" she muttered.

"Put what?" Bren asked.

"Well…in all due truth, you should be dead."

"Hold on—what do you mean by that?" Chase asked, glancing slightly at the Commandant-Marshal, who remained expressionless.

"Normally subjects over the age of 17 don't…take well to new DNA. Their DNA tends to self-destruct after a week…and they die. So I don't know why you're still breathing."

It got very silent after that. Chase tried his best to get his mind off of that subject by looking outside. _I bet STORM's going nuts trying to find Charlemagne,_ he thought with some humor. _I wonder what dad's up too…_

* * *

Two days later, Chase was in for a huge surprise. He had feathers. Not just down feathers, but actual flight feathers. As did the others. They were jet-black on top, and the same below…except for white-rimmed cyan-colored streaks. Not natural.

Bren's were plainer. Simple brown with cream-colored spots on top, and cream-brown with caramel-colored streaks below. Jinja's looked normal at first—plain ginger. But below they were a lighter color, with gold-colored streaks.

Beyal's were the purest of white on top, although they had a silverish-blue sheen below, as well as some gray speckles all over them. Dax's were mostly black with brown streaks woven in here and there, as well as some silvery-white spots. Otulissa's were brown with white spots, with cream-colored streaks below.

It took a while for them to convince Charlemagne to let them see hers. They were a glossy gold color on top with the tips of the secondary feathers being jet-black, although the gold was more of a milky shade below, still having black tips.

Otulissa laughed. "About time!" she crowed, spreading her wings wide. They were about twelve feet in total length. "I hope they teach us how to fly."

"Uh, wouldn't that be a bit too soon?" Bren said with a nervous laugh. "I mean, we just got the feathers! They wouldn't force _that_ on us, right?"

* * *

Later on Chase was sure that Jinja would be scolding Bren for jinxing them.

First off, they'd all been shoved into showers, as well as having their clothes washed. Chase had taken advantage and studied how his wings were connected to him—perfectly grafted in. They had literally grown new limbs because of that strange green liquid.

The best part was that after they were all clean—Charlemagne looked _so_ weird without makeup—they were given actual food. Normally all they got were some seeds—so they were used to being hungry.

Then again he supposed that they weren't malnourished because of all the injections they got daily. Chase still had markings all over his arms from all of them.

Finally the seven of them had been brought to a large, open room. The room went about thirty feet up. And halfway up was a glass window, showing a room filled with scientists, most of them holding clipboards with paper and pens.

The ceiling was made out of glass—so they could see out to the sky. Oh, how he wanted to be outside…

But first things first. "What do they want us to do?" Jinja whispered.

"No clue, Jin," he replied, staring hard at the scientists.

One of them facepalmed, and said into a microphone, "Subjects 1-through-6, look up."

Chase made a growling sound in his throat, and then looked up—and froze. Tied to a rope hanging from the ceiling was a core. _Lock's_ core. Along with five other cores—Quickforce, Charger, Glowblade, Airswitch, and Driftblade.

But they were twenty-seven feet off of the ground. "We need to get up there," Dax said bluntly.

"I think we've noticed that Daxy," Jinja said, looking up as well.

"Yes…but how do we get up?" Beyal asked no on in particular.

Chase had an idea, and was about to suggest it…but Charlemagne beat him to it. "I believe zhey expect us to _fly_."

Otulissa coughed, giving Bren a look. So did Jinja. _I was right,_ Chase thought. He looked up again. _Charlemagne's right…there's no way in heck we'll be able to get our cores…_ Chase jumped as hard as he could, flapping his wings once experimentally. It gave him some extra air, though he thudded back down.

"Are you serious?" Dax deadpanned.

"Yeah, I am. Is there any other way to get up there?"

Dax shrugged, and copied what Chase had done—except he kept flapping his wings. "This is gonna feel weird," Jinja muttered before doing the same, as well as Bren and Beyal. Otulissa shrugged happily before trying to fly anyway, even though she had no core to go for.

* * *

Charlemagne watched their attempt passively…though that was only on the exterior. One part of her just wanted to wait and see. Another wanted to do the same as them, and try to reclaim what was hers. She hadn't seen that core for a whole month…as far as she knew.

At that moment something else struck her. If she learned how to fly…and got Driftblade…she'd be able to get out of this hellish place.

Although…

She probably wouldn't have a ghost of a chance all by herself. She didn't even know where she was exactly on a map. So maybe she could use the other six to her advantage. But in order for that to happen, she needed to fly.

* * *

Chase had remained so focused on flying that only a shocked gasp from Otulissa brought his mind back to reality. And when he looked up, he saw that the core was dangling in his face. Impulsively he grabbed it, and then looked down—

To see he was twenty-seven feet up in the air, as with the others.

They were all hovering mid-air. They were _flying_.

The fact came so suddenly and with such surprise that it made him forget to flap. Only when he suddenly dropped three-point-five feet did he remember to do said action. "Oh my God," he heard Jinja say in shock.

"Eh-um-uh," Bren stuttered, staring down. Beyal gasped quietly, while Dax just stared down. Same with Charlemagne—Chase hadn't noticed that she was flying as well.

Chase felt terribly unbalanced, and clumsy, but he worked those kinks out pretty fast, slowly trying to move through the air in the room. _Holy crag, we're flying!_

* * *

All of them were a mixture of shocked and smug when they were shoved back into that room. Six of them were gladly gripping a core each. "Tonight we're getting out of this place," Chase stated happily.

* * *

**Alright, my poll is up. I'll be waiting for at least one vote. ~Myra**


	5. Chapter 5

**Eh, I'll give you guys another chapter. But make sure to vote on my poll, as it has to do with this story! ~Myra **

* * *

At exactly midnight, Chase spun out Lock. The whole wall was immediately smashed, and an alarm began blaring—but no one was around to hear it.

"First things first, guys—find the other cores!" Chase ordered, and they fanned out. "Meet up at the main door!"

Bren slowed each time he passed a door along with Beyal—and Charlemagne, who he did not trust yet one little bit— to see if he saw anything of note. He _did_ see a laptop filled room which had, sitting on a table, the Core-Tablet. He tried turning the handle—it was locked.

With a nod from Beyal, they both backed up and threw themselves at the door—and it came down, surprisingly. Bren was happily reunited with the Core-Tablet, and when he turned it on, he was surprised to see that the settings had been edited.

Apparently the scientists had been bent on keeping it—Core-Tech stuff _is_ the best, after all—so they'd tricked it out with constant satellite hookup, wired the codes so it and the passkeys were constantly changing and couldn't be traced, and installed a program that allowed easy access though any firewall—meaning it was now their key to every imaginable piece of information in…well, anywhere. _Sweetness on a stick!_

* * *

It was Jinja and Otulissa that found the cores. They, along with an assortment of red cores—and a few yellow ones—were in an open box on the table. Otulissa kicked the door down, and they'd reclaimed the cores. There was, however, one Core-Tech core that Jinja didn't recognize. In response, Otulissa had picked it up, studied it, shrugged, and put it in her pocket. "Finders keepers," she said before they ran out into the hall again.

They all met up in the lobby—finding their ways there via the few wall-posted maps of the building, as it was a darn-big building. Dax had also found where their supplies had been—clothes, at least, and some water bottles. Everything else was gone, including Jinja's emergency credit-card, which she was a bit sour over. As well as any sort of communicators that any of them had owned.

"You guys ready?" Chase asked after Jinja had given everyone their rightful cores. Heartened nods answered him from all, and they dashed out.

They ran for a while. Jinja didn't know how long. Finally Chase began to slow, as did the others. "Phew," Bren said, panting. "That's the longest I've ever run. Ever."

Chase laughed a bit, as did Jinja. Beyal had a goofy grin on his face, and Dax was smirking. Otulissa just looked overjoyed. "Guys, I gotta hand it to you," the youngest avian hybrid said. "But thanks to you, I just got my first taste of the great outdoors. So thanks."

She turned to walk off, but Beyal cut in, "Lissa? Where are you going?"  
She froze. "Good question. Uh…Chase? Little question…"  
Chase smiled. "Yeah, you can stay with us."

"Thanks!"

He then paused, and looked at Charlemagne. "Where are you going?"

Bren looked up from the Core-Tablet. "According to the map, the Institute's the only civilization for at least two weeks' worth of walking."

Charlemagne froze from where she had been attempting to sneak off. Apparently she knew that Bren had a point there.

Jinja surveyed the surroundings. They were clearly in the Lowlands, with desert stretching for miles. She frowned. _Weird. Everything looks clearer suddenly._

Bren blinked a couple of times fast. "Huh," he muttered, squinting.

"What's wrong, B?" Chase asked.

"Nothing. My glasses started bugging out, though. Must be the dust—"

He took them off to wipe them, but as soon as they were away from his face, he yelped, stumbling backwards. The rest of Core-Tech looked at him, shocked. "Uh…is it weird that I can see perfectly fine without my glasses?" Bren stuttered.

* * *

Dax zoned out a bit after that. _Okay…we have wings. Gonna be hard to tell the doc _that_,_ Dax thought. Then he heard a crack, and looked up sharply. The others followed his gaze.

Something was coming…something that…_Oh God!_

* * *

Beyal was unprepared for what happened next. Eight things crashed out of the scrubby undergrowth. Humanoid, covered in scales, green, slitted eyes—except for one, who had crimson eyes. And another, who had yellow.

Alpha and Beta, the two lead Hunters.

"Run for it, guys!" Otulissa shrieked, spreading her wings. Core-Tech whirled and began running—but the Hunters were too quick. Beyal could hear them catching up. He noted that Chase had taken a running leap, and was airborne now—

And then—

He was suddenly up too. As were the others.

But only his subconscious noted that, as his rational sense was filled with the demand to _get away_. They arced away from the clearing, instinctively tilting their wings to catch the late-night breeze, and rode it away from there.

After a while of silence, Beyal became aware of a strange sensation. He looked to the side, seeing his white feathers ruffling in the wind. It took him a few moments to process that he was flying.

And the larger fact hit him like a falling icicle—they were free.

Really, truly free.

* * *

They flew for about two hours. They had first flown inside of the Institute, which Bren supposed didn't really count. But now here they all were, once-hundred feet above the ground, riding a wind current in a somewhat-organized formation.

"Chase, can we land soon?" Otulissa asked. "My wings are starting to hurt."

"Same here," Dax called. "And I'm getting hungry." Bren added his agreement in. And though they didn't say anything, Jinja, Beyal, and even Charlemagne were starting to look a bit shaky.

"Yeah, let's look for somewhere to land," Chase said, looking around. "We'll have to find the nearest town tomorrow…" He visibly perked up, and added, "There's a ledge down there."

As they closed in on the ledge, something struck Bren. "Uh, Chase? How are we supposed to land at an angle like that?"

He saw his friend go stiff. "Not sure," he said. "Let's just try our best."

"Oh great," Jinja muttered. Bren himself gulped. The landing they had done in the Institute had been straight down—and very slow. This one would be at an angle and somewhat fast. _Guess I better just hope for the best…_

* * *

To put it bluntly, most of them failed epically.

Chase was the lucky one—he only stumbled majorly. Bren and Jinja both fell over as soon as their feet touched the ground. Beyal and Otulissa both tumbled head-over-heels, while Dax and Charlemagne both immediately ate dirt. They both looked thoroughly humiliated.

"Alright, we _definitely_ need to work on the landings," Chase said sheepishly.

"Says the guy who only stumbled," Jinja remarked dryly, folding her wings somewhat while wincing. Chase did the same, also wincing—his wings were pretty darn sore from the flight. They were newer limbs, after all.

"Do not worry my friends," Beyal said. "We will improve in time." Chase was immensely glad to hear Beyal speaking more—he had been practically mute while they were in the Institute.

Chase smiled a bit at seeing almost everyone relaxing in the small cavern. Except for Charlemagne, who was looking out from the ledge. "I wouldn't be surprised if we woke up to see her gone," Jinja said.

Chase knew that Jinja was right, and one part of him would be glad when they didn't have the Commandant-Marshal to worry about.

Yet another part would be sad to see her go. They were in the same predicament, after all. But only time would tell.

* * *

It was a sudden change in lighting that woke Beyal. He opened an eye, and saw that Charlemagne was slowly and quietly going toward the ledge.

Sitting up, Beyal quietly asked, "Where are you going?" She froze and turned to look at him. Clearly she hadn't expected for any of them to be up.

But it actually didn't take much to wake Beyal, even before being in the Institute. If anything, he was even more of a light sleeper.

"Out," the blond woman replied vaguely.

"Flying?" he queried. No reply—he knew that she had been trying to sneak off to the nearest STORM base. But he decided to openly think otherwise. "May I come?"

Judging by her expression she had not expected for him to say that. It seemed as though she didn't exactly know how to respond to that either. Subconsciously or not, she shrugged slightly.

* * *

Jinja pried her eyes open. Above her was…rock? _Huh? How did—oh right, we got out last night._ To make sure, she felt at her belt, and found Charger's core there. _Phew, it wasn't a dream._ She looked around. It looked like only she was up right now. Off to the east, the sun was just starting to rise. Ignoring her hunger, she crawled to the ledge, and looked out.

She could see for almost two miles—nothing but desert and cliffs. As was the usual terrain of the Lowlands. The sand far below was a patchwork of colors—rose, cream, tan, brown. After that she turned her attention to her wings.

They were a shade of deep ginger, darker than her hair, and the primaries—the big ones along the bottom outside edge—paled into a cream color on the tips, and that was all on the top. The undersides were a lighter color in general, with narrow gold-colored streaks.

She almost jumped when she heard a shuffling behind her, and she looked to see Chase sit up, rubbing his head. "Morning," she said quietly.

"So we weren't dreaming?" was his reply.

"Nope," she said happily.

"That's a relief." Then, "When did you get up, Jin?"

"Few minutes ago."

Chase stood and walked over to the edge, looking down. He whistled. "Wouldn't want to drop from this high," he said.

"Not like we have to worry."

"Right." Then, "Aw crag," he muttered.

"What?"

"How am I supposed to tell my father about this?"

"Um…" Truthfully, Jinja hadn't thought about she would tell her own parents that she had _wings_. Actually, she hadn't talked to her family in a long time now. Neither had Bren, for that matter. They were probably worried sick. She sighed and shook her head. "We can't worry about that right now, though," she said. "For one, I'm _starving_."

"Yeah…we need food. Like, soon." He paused and looked back. "Charlemagne's gone," he said.

"Figures…" Something more worrying struck Jinja. "So is Beyal."

Chase stood, putting a hand up to shield his eyes from the light as he scanned the horizon. Then he stopped, and said, "Nope, there they are."

"_They_?"

"Yeah. They're just out flying. Look."

She followed his gaze, and sure enough, saw light reflecting off of Beyal's white feathers. As well as glinting off of bright-gold ones—Charlemagne hadn't left at all. Which had Jinja very much confused.

* * *

Once everyone else was awake, they all took running takeoffs. Thankfully this one was less rough than the one the night before, but this time they weren't being pursued. At seeing the others up and flying, the other two quickly caught up. So now they were making a steady way east, toward Islyn—which was on the edge of the Lowlands.

Islyn was a small town, located in a small, sparse forest. Its perimeter didn't even reach a mile-and-a-half in any direction, so it had only one school, one grocery store, one police station, one post office…pretty much one of everything—except for houses, of course.

But as they landed outside of the town, Otulissa exclaimed, "Hold on guys!"

They turned to look at her. "What's up?" Dax asked.

"Um…your clothes."

"What about 'em?" Bren asked, sounding puzzled.

"Uh, you have huge rips in them, that's what's up!"

"What?"

Chase had already known that his jacket had been pretty much destroyed, but now that he took it off and saw the back of his shirt in a reflection off of some metal, he saw that it was in the same state.

"Are you serious?" Jinja exclaimed, finding the same thing.

"Man! And this was my favorite shirt!" Bren said.

Dax looked like he wanted to say a few things, but decided to keep his mouth shut. Only Beyal didn't seem too worried. Charlemagne, on the other hand, exclaimed something in German that Chase suspected was a cuss. He honestly did the same thing—but in English—mentally.

Otulissa sighed, and said, "I'll got and get some food. You guys try to find some new threads."

* * *

"Chase, this doesn't feel right," Jinja whispered.

"I know that, Jin, but we have to," he whispered back. They were looking at a set of clotheslines outside of a hotel, both of them full up.

It had been decided that they'd have to "borrow" some clothes in order to stay inconspicuous. "Well I'm all for it," Dax said, sauntering forward. After a few moments Charlemagne slowly went forward as well.

_Ohh, karma's gonna get back at us eventually,_ Bren thought, following slower. Only Beyal lingered as Chase and Jinja also followed.

Within a minute, they'd all fled back into the undergrowth with their not-so-new clothes. Chase had picked a light-blue T-shirt and a simple brown jacket. Jinja had on a teal-colored long-sleeve shirt. She had also picked a new white shirt for Beyal. Dax had taken a black-beige shirt in a camouflage pattern, while Bren himself had picked a black T-shirt that was neon-green at the hems. Charlemagne had taken a simple light goldish-brown long-sleeve.

Of course they had to cut huge slits in the backs to let their wings out, but at least it was barely noticeable at all.

* * *

They met up on top of an abandoned building's roof. Otulissa had fulfilled her promise—she had brought three whole bags of groceries. "How did you get the money?" Chase asked.

"Let's just say some guy's gonna be pretty surprised." She held up a wallet…and had totally ignored Chase's glare.

He facepalmed, sighing. "Well, we better scram. Don't want anyone to recognize us." So one by one, they took off…completely unaware about what would come next.


	6. Chapter 6

**Well, I have two votes to continue this one, and none for the other, so... ~Myra  
**

* * *

They decided to check into a small motel for the night, luckily having enough for it. Apparently this place didn't get much business. It did clean out the wallet, though. Otulissa promised to leave it on the receptionist desk.

All of them were taking turns in the shower, currently Jinja's turn—she was the last one to go. Their ruined clothing had been tossed out—though Chase was sour over the fact that his jacket had been pretty much destroyed. It had been a gift from his dad. Well, the bloodstained parts of the clothes had been tossed—Otulissa had suggested keeping the unstained parts to use as makeshift bandages.

Bren was browsing the internet on the Core-Tablet—a function that had been improved tremendously—while Otulissa was hearing some stories from Beyal. Dax was aimlessly flipping through channels on the room's TV. He hadn't noticed that Charlemagne had also stolen a laptop from the Institute—she was using it at the moment.

Suddenly Dax sat up straight as a board. "Uh, Suno?" he said, voice wavering slightly.

"What?" Chase asked, somewhat worried. Dax never sounded like that.

The Lowlander pointed. On the news channel that he had randomly put on, the anchor was saying, _"No one knows if this is an illusion, but even if it is, you'd need to see it to believe how lifelike it is." _The screen cut out to show _them_ taking off from the rooftop in Islyn Town. Thank God it was fuzzy, so they couldn't be recognized, but still…

This was bad. Bad, bad, BAD.

Beyal's eyes had widened, while Charlemagne looked a bit more than panicked—Chase didn't blame her.

"Jin, you're almost done, right?" Bren called, sounding nervous.

"Why?"

"Uh, we got on the news."

"WHAT?!"

"Yeah, hurry it up—we might want to scram."

"Alright, alright, I'm hurrying!"

* * *

As they were flying, Dax made sure to lag behind a little, but not by too much. He needed to pay someone certain a call.

He took his phone out—as he had found it with their things—and dialed a particular number, and waited for an answer.

"Hello?" a voice finally asked.

"Hey doc."

"Dax!" Jeredy Suno exclaimed. "Where—what happened to you?!"

"Long story that I'd rather not go into." The Lowlander was shocked with himself—his voice betrayed a feeling of slight panic. Well, maybe "slight" was an understatement.

First the doctor was silent. Then he asked slowly, "At least tell me one thing."

Dax decided to tell him the important, life-changing one.

"Well, we got abducted by a rabid pack of geneticists, and…well, they sorta grew wings on us. Not just us, either."

* * *

Jon Ace just could not process what he was seeing on the news. _There's no way that can be real._ Said thing that had no way of being real was a news article titled **"Real-live Angels?"** It showed seven _winged_ people. A soldier had brought it up to him, prompting him to take a look. That was ten minutes ago. He was jolted out of his thoughts by Trey. "What are you doing, Ace?" Ever since Charlemagne had vanished without a trace a month ago, he and Jon had been actually cooperating in taking care of everything. A bit hard, but it worked to a degree.

"Have you seen this?"

To Jon's surprise, the other commander stared at it for quite a while before muttering, "Right, you weren't there…" He shook his head. "Stay here." He ran out of the room.

The blond-haired man was completely bemused. Normally Trey would've made a smart remark about him not knowing something. This time he seemed…well, _freaked out_.

Three minutes later the other commander returned with some files. "Mid-January," Trey started. "We got a lead on some sort of lab in Coastal City." Jon recalled that before Monsunos were invented, STORM dealt with other things as well. What we found wasn't a pretty sight." He handed the files to Jon.

As he looked through them, he felt sickened. "Who in their right minds would do something like that?!" he exclaimed.

"No idea." Trey paused. "You don't think…" he said slowly.

The thought itself was a worrying one. "Possibly."

* * *

That night, Chase was still up after he was sure the others had fallen asleep. They were bunking on a high-up inlet in a cliff, and he was standing on top of said cliff, looking at the stars. He knew why Beyal liked it so much—it was pretty enough of a sight to get your mind off of anything.

Well, almost anything. He still had no idea how he'd break it to his father that he was a mutant freak now. He laughed nervously to himself. _At least I'm not alone._ It was a sick comfort, but…

Then he clenched his fists. _If only I'd been more careful…then NONE of us would be in this mess!_ Yelling, he whirled and punched a rock. An ill-perceived action, as now his hand hurt.

While he was shaking it to reduce the stinging, he heard a voice say "Chase?" in a worried tone.

Chase started, and looked down to see Jinja looking up at him, rubbing her eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Jin," he replied, though she obviously didn't believe him, because she climbed up to the top of the ledge and gave him a sideways questioning look.

"Seriously, what's wrong?" she persisted. He sighed—she always won in an argument against him. He had no idea why.

"It's just…well, I don't know how I'm gonna break _this_ to my dad." For emphasis he spread his wings.

She didn't respond for a minute. Then she said, "I don't know how I'm going to tell _my_ family either." She frowned. "I haven't talked to them in a while…"

"Neither has Bren."

"Yeah."

They were quiet for a while. Once Chase thought he saw a shooting star, but it was at the corner of his field of vision, so he wasn't sure. Then Jinja said, "You're lucky—you got the nice-looking wings."

"Huh? Uh, I guess…about mine anyways. Yours look nice too."  
True, his wings did look nice. Shadow-black with cyan streaks on the undersides.  
Hers were a solid russet-ginger color on top that paled to a creamish shade at the edges, while they were cream-brown below with faint goldish streaks. "How're you holding up?" he asked then. They'd had to run from the Hunters again earlier that day—as soon as they'd landed first, the Hunters had burst out of the undergrowth. Jinja had gotten slashed on her leg, but it wasn't too deep, and Beyal had been kind enough to cut some of his cloak to make a bandage for her.

"Fine—it's a bit sore, but I can walk okay." She decided then to change the subject. "Well, it'll be a lot easier to get away for DarkSpin, that's for sure."

"What do you mean?"

She grinned at him. "They glide. We fly."

"Good point." He laughed a bit. Leave it to Jinja to cheer him up. Chase yawned after that. "Okay, now I'm tired. I'm gonna turn in."

"You do that," she said, and then frowned slightly. "Weird," she muttered.

"What's wrong?"

She blinked a few times, and looked around. "I can see you perfectly, even though it's cloudy."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah…it's strange." She looked off toward the desert below, and said, "I can see an owl down there, too. And a coyote."

"That is weird." _And speaking of weird…_ "Hey Jin? Remember when those Hunters first attacked us? Night one? Dax knew they were coming, even though he was facing the opposite direction. And then there was this morning, too!"

Jinja frowned, obviously thinking. "I'll ask him about it tomorrow. Not to mention, the laptop that whip-lady took still has a full charge. It should at least be halfway drained, right?"

"That is weird…okay, now I'm really going to bed," Chase said. "Night."

"Night."

To his surprise, instead of getting up and heading back down into the ledge like he expected, she leaned onto him. "Uh, Jin? What are you…?" He trailed off when he realized she was already asleep. He huffed slightly. _Just go with it Suno,_ he told himself, leaning against a rock and shutting his eyes. _Just go with it…_

* * *

"Well, look what we have here."

Chase's eyes snapped open when that too-fake-sweet voice with a hiss in the undertone sounded too close for comfort, and inspired instant fear—no, terror.

Jinja had instantly jumped upright, as had Chase. Beta—always Beta. His yellow eyes glinted in an almost-playful way…if you overlooked the cruelty evident on his face. "You two make a cute couple…" At that both of them blushed. Until he added, "Of bird freaks!" He cackled. "It's almost like you _don't_ want to go back to the Institute!"

"Never!" Jinja spat, anger mixed with fear.

At the same time Chase snarled, "When I'm dead!"

Beta chuckled darkly. "That can be arranged, you know."

In response, both Chase and Jinja spun a core out—him using Lock as usual, and her using Charger. The others would definitely be up in a few seconds…

Both Monsunos let out deep growls as they stared menacingly at the Hunters. "Ah-ah," Beta said, holding up a gun of some kind. "No Monsunos." He fired it twice. A single disk-like object latched onto one Monsuno each, before letting out a strong electric charge—enough to make Chase's hair stand on end and his feathers to stick up slightly, even though he had his wings folded in. Lock and Charger both returned to their cores in a matter of seven seconds.

Chase was shocked. _They took both our Monsunos out in less than a minute…!_

Beta cackled again. The other Hunters behind him looked eager for a fight—which Chase realized was actually about to happen.

Instinctively he tensed, ready to spring at a moment's notice. And he got that notice—when Dax suddenly clouted one Hunter in the head. It went down, sprawling. Two others lunged at him, but he somehow dodged it in a way that made them smash into each other.

Otulissa flew up as well, kicking another Hunter in the head. Taking advantage of the subsequent confusion, Jinja tackled one of the last remaining Hunters down, as did Beyal, Charlemagne, and even _Bren_—which surprised Chase.

Meanwhile, Chase managed to gather his courage and barely managed to knock Beta down before leaping into the air, flapping his wings like crazy to gain altitude, get away.

The others were right behind him. Gunshots sounded, and Chase winced when he felt one pull a feather out. Said feather was quickly blown away.

The seven of them angled their wings to catch the breeze, carrying them northeast. Chase smiled a bit before saying, "Well, that was a pleasant way to wake up." He laughed nervously.

"Right," Jinja said, sounding a little awkward. Chase cleared his throat quietly, remembering not only the night before, but also what Beta had said. Talk about embarrassing.

Then the auburn-haired girl seemed to remember something. "Hey Dax? Question."

"What is it princess?"

"One, don't call me that. And two…how did you get those two Hunters to crash into each other?"

"I just had a feeling they'd go at me like that," the Lowlander said, nodding and looking pleased with himself.

"Alright," Jinja said. "So what about the night we got out? You were facing the other way, and you knew they were coming!"

Dax opened his mouth to reply—and closed it again. He then frowned a bit. "I…don't know. I just had a feeling they were coming. And I knew they were either gonna catch us or kill us."

Everyone was quiet. They'd never heard Dax use that tone.

"Prove it."

"Let's see…well, lil' Suno's planning on flying until sundown, so that's a head's-up…"

"Hey!" Chase complained. Truth was, that _was_ his plan. _Well, maybe that's a bit overboard._

Beyal looked thoughtful, and he opened his mouth to say something—

Only to have Otulissa say, "I heard some of the scientists talking about stuff like that. They said stuff about 'programmed abilities' coming up or something like that. I think you can sense intentions, Daxy."

Dax was shocked silent, his eyes widening. Jinja blinked, and added, "I could've sworn I saw some animals out in the desert last night—but it was pitch-dark."

"Infrared maybe. It probably only switches on at night, otherwise you'd be blind as a bat in the day," Otulissa said thoughtfully.

Jinja was quiet for a few moments before shouting, "Wait, I can see in the dark, then!? Awesome!"

"Hey, that laptop of yours," Bren started. "How come it always has a full charge?"

The only response he got from Charlemagne was a shrug. She also looked somewhat confused.

"Well, maybe it's something related to electricity," Otulissa said.

"And us?" Chase asked.

"They'll come out over time—hey, where'd Snowy go?"

Chase didn't follow her at first. _Snowy?_ Then he realized: Beyal. He had white hair—of course he'd be partial to nicknames like that.

"I am right here," the said monk spoke up, sounding puzzled. But from where his voice came from…nothing was there.

"Uh, Beyal? We can't see you," Chase said.

And then, there he was, flying alongside Jinja, looking confused. She looked a mixture of confused and shocked that she hadn't notice him vanish.

Otulissa had her explanation: "Camouflaging. You're so quiet; of course you'd get that one." As if sensing what Bren was about to say, she said, "I haven't noticed an ability for myself yet. So if you and Chase haven't noticed anything unusual about yourselves—besides the internal compasses and weird amounts of strength and stamina— you either don't have it yet or it's something you'll notice later." Otulissa paused. "So Chase…where are we going?"

Chase looked thoughtful. "We'll be passing over Westward City, so…" He paused for effect, grinning. "We'll rest there for a few days."

The cheers from his friends were immediate. "Yes! A city!" Otulissa crowed.

The team leader smiled to himself. He was getting a lot better at the "leadership" stuff. Too bad it took them getting mutated against their wills.

* * *

It wasn't long before they reached the city. Beyal spotted a clearing that was secluded from view in a park. This landing wasn't too painful—Bren was the only one to fall down—but they were on grass this time. "Ah, grass!" the resident geek exclaimed. "I never thought I'd be this happy to see it!"

All of them agreed—although Bren was sure Beyal wanted to see some snow more.

Something else crossed Bren's mind as he stood and folded his light-brown wings in. He began rummaging around in his bag.

"B, what are you up to?" Chase asked.

"Checking on that _particular_ news article," Bren explained while said news piece loaded. "I'm gonna see if it's still popular or not." He froze. "Which it is."

"Crag," Chase moaned. "Shouldn't've landed in the city…"

"Actually, that's not the reason." Bren stared in amazement. He glanced briefly at Charlemagne before adding, "It's gotten popular again because of a response…from STORM. They're actually supporting the footage as real!" He was sure he was going to hear their disbelief. The look on Charlemagne's face was totally priceless.

Which he did. "No way!" Dax exclaimed.

"Are you serious, Bren?" Chase followed up with.

"Let's hear this so-called support," Jinja said.

"Hang on, I'll play the article," Bren said as he tapped a key._ "Although it's been a few weeks and the mysterious bird-people are nowhere to be found whatsoever, the government agency STORM recently released a statement that, unbelievably, supports the existence of these incredible modern mythical creatures."_

"'Modern mythical creatures', are we?" Jinja mused. For an instant Bren thought he saw a surprised look on Charlemagne.

The anchor's tone turned dark. _"However, we've also learned from the statement what is likely to be the dark side of this real-life fairytale. At the beginning of the year, a hidden laboratory was discovered in Coastal City—"_ The screen cut out to show a stair corridor in what looked like a water facility_—"That contained not only lab equipment—and I will warn that this next part is not for young children or the faint of heart—cages filled with what appeared to be mutants of some kind."_ The mood of all seven winged controllers soured immediately. _"All had DNA normally not found with the other. For example, these two creatures that have been dubbed Lucky and Molly: they appear to be a mixture of cougar and Atlantic salmon."_ Again the screen cut out, this time to show a video—of the weirdest non-Monsuno creatures any of them (except maybe Otulissa) had ever seen. They really did look like cougars, except they had silvery-blue fish scales, a fish's tail, and gills.

_"Thanks to careful research, these specimens have recovered and are thriving in the city's aquarium as of today. However, not all of the stories had such a happy ending like Lucky and Molly. In fact, only five other hybrids besides these two had been alive."_ Again the screen cut out, showing two videos: the first one showed what looked like scaled coyotes. _Probably a prototype for Hunters._

The second video showed some winged horses. _Pegasus, much?_

The final one was only a picture, but all of Core-Tech crowded around in shock. It was _surely_ a Monsuno prototype. At first Bren thought that it had been sent by mistake, until he noticed that he saw a different, too-fuzzy-to-make-out mutant in the background…that looked like it had wings.

The creature of focus, however, was obviously a Monsuno by its markings and eyes. Possibly a black bear—panther hybrid.

It was still worrying to know that the scientists at the Institute—or whatever this place had been called—had actually been the ones to discover Monsuno Essence. Jinja turned to look at Charlemagne. "Question…is THAT how you already knew about Monsunos?"

She got no reply.


	7. Chapter 7

"Chase, are you out of your core?!" Bren asked.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm with Bren on this!" Jinja added. Quieter, she said, "Wow, I actually said that."

"Yes Chase, I am not seeing wisdom in this decision," Beyal said, looking worried.

"I'm with monkfish. What a better way to let everyone know who exactly we 'modern myths' are?" Dax put in sarcastically.

"Ve should turn back," Charlemagne said, glaring a bit at him. Chase had a feeling that this particular issue would reach a peak eventually…but he turned his attention to the more pressing one.

"I know it's risky, but if we're careful, no one should notice anything unusual about us."

"Yeah, if they overlook the cuts on the backs of our shirts."

"Well, I'm all for it," Otulissa said. "This aquarium place sounds cool." At that Chase subtly winked at her. She gave a slight thumbs-up.

They all knew that the youngest team member—seeing as she had a Core-Tech Monsuno, she was pretty much by default part of the team—had no memories of a normal life.

So the others were silent the rest of the flight, defeated.

* * *

Two hours later Coastal City came into view. They circled an area outside of the city once, searching for any possible danger. Seeing none, they landed. Thank God they were getting better, although Charlemagne made note that after a long flight she felt shaky while walking for a few minutes.

"Alright, we look normal if we fold our wings tight like this…" Chase mused.

"Right. Let's get this over with," Dax said.

First thing Charlemagne noticed as they hit the first of the crowds was that she immediately felt slightly claustrophobic. She blamed being stuck first in a cage and then in a small room.

"Chase, I'm not liking this," the auburn-haired girl—Jinja?—said. He glanced at her.

"I'm not too comfortable about this anymore either, Jin."

The claustrophobic feeling peaked when they got to the aquarium. It. Was. PACKED.

"Aw crag," Chase muttered.

And his response wasn't just from the crowds. The price of admission was _twenty dollars each_. They didn't have any money at all. Otulissa apparently hadn't noticed the sign, for she attempted to stroll right in.

"Hey, you need to pay up if you want to get in," the administrator—obviously a teen who needed some extra money—snapped.

Charlemagne sighed heavily. _So much for not attracting any attention,_ she thought.

Then the younger girl said the craziest thing. "_Please_ can you let me and my friends go in? We really wanna see Lucky and Molly."

The guy hesitated. "I…guess?" he said slowly, looking confused. Otulissa beamed and went in. Amazed, the other six followed. "Lissa, how'd you do that?" Bren asked.

The girl shrugged. "I guess I got my ability."

They began nearing where the cougarfish were. The Commandant-Marshal knew simply by the size of the crowd. She jumped when she felt someone grip her arm, and she looked to see—nothing?

Or not—she saw a faint outline. "Vhat are you doing?" she asked quietly and slowly, keeping any sort of emotion out of her voice. Although she already knew a likely reason; probably the same reason she felt freaked out.

The white-haired boy flickered into view for a few moments. "I do not know why, but I am very nervous…" He vanished again. She couldn't help it—she frowned a bit. From what she knew, this kid had mostly lived an isolated life. Being in that _place_ had definitely left mental aftereffects on him.

* * *

Eventually they managed to gather their wits enough to move forward through the crowd. Out of all of them, Dax hated it the most.

As it turned out, he couldn't "turn off" his ability like Jinja. Which meant that he was aware of _every single person_ within fifty feet of himself. He was hardly able to distinguish his own intents in that giant mess!

Of course he didn't say it aloud, though.

Chase suddenly stopped from where he had been leading them through the crowd. In the tank that was the focus of attention were the cougarfish, just as the video had showed them. "So we're not the only ones," Chase said.

Dax was baffled. "What in blue blazes do you mean by that Lil' Suno?"

"I mean, we're not the only ones who lived through a place like that."

It then made sense. They weren't the only surviving hybrids.

They failed to notice someone in there recognized them.

* * *

"Man am I glad to be out of there," Bren said gratefully. The others had all wanted to leave after that, so Chase really had no other choice but to agree. Especially since he, like the others, had developed a _slight_ claustrophobia. More like _not-so slight_.

Otulissa had again provided food—convincing some people to surrender their leftovers as they left a restaurant. She also "bought" some extra bags to hold supplies, some of which having cans of food in them. She had smiled sheepishly at Chase's venomous look.

"So I was thinking," Chase said after they were done eating some of their food (the leftovers, since there was no way to keep them fresh), "That we'd head toward Melian City."

Bren and Jinja both froze. "Uh, Chase?" Bren started. "No offense, but are you sure that's a good idea?" He sounded nervous.

Dax laughed. "What are you so scared of the Auror Province's capital, Glasses?"

"Hey!" the resident geek complained. "I don't even need to wear those anymore!"

"Habit." Bren grumbled something in response.

In response to the Lowlander's question, Jinja said, "Me, Bren, and Chase used to live there. Actually, Bren and I still technically do. Someone will definitely recognize us."

"…oh."

Chase looked around. "Well, we better get moving," he said. "I don't wanna stay in one place for—"

"Leaving so soon, Baby Suno?" a familiar voice asked.

Chase froze. "You're _kidding_," Jinja deadpanned before turning around. Chase did the same and saw it was indeed DarkSpin. He noted Medea give a momentary odd look at first Otulissa…and then Charlemagne—it took him a moment to realize that she didn't recognize the Commandant-Marshal in a different outfit and without make-up.

"Who are they?" Otulissa asked.

"Trouble," was Jinja's response.

"How fantastic!" Medea went on. "It's been _sooo_ long since we last battled." She took out a core, as did the rest of her crew.

"Medea, we're seriously not in the mood. But if you insist…" Chase took out a core, and his four closer friends copied. Otulissa hesitated a moment before taking her core out as well.

Simultaneously, all of them spun their cores out. Chase sent out Evo—as he felt he'd been neglecting it lately— Bren sent Quickforce out, Jinja spun out Charger, Beyal sent Glowblade out, and Dax spun out Boost.

There was an explosion of blue and red, and the battle begun immediately. Otulissa's Monsuno took the shape of a four-winged owl, its lower wings being covered in crystal blades. It also had crystal claws and a crest on its head that looked wickedly sharp—also consisting of crystal.

"Evo, Lightning Bash!" Chase ordered. The swan-eagle circled once, then tucking in its wings and slamming right into Poisonwing.

Bren glanced at his core before saying, "Quickforce, Blind Wing!" The antelope-raven's metallic wings immediately shone with a bright light. Spikebat screeched in pain as the light shone into its sensitive eyes. Unfortunately it didn't just affect the opposing Monsunos.

"_Gyah!_" Chase covered his eyes. "Bren, be careful with that one!"

"Sorry!" his friend yelped, also covering his eyes. One downside to having bird-of-prey vision—bright light HURT.

Moonfire and Spiderwolf had been ganged up on by Charger, Boost and Glowblade. It wasn't long before both of them were sent back into their cores.

Otulissa's Monsuno was chasing Spikebat around in the air. Otulissa seemed to realize something, and she shouted, "Wingblade, Light-Shard Rain!" Her Monsuno—now dubbed Wingblade—flapped its wings hard, sending daggers of energy down onto Spikebat. Said Monsuno was pounded into essence.

Medea looked seriously ticked. "Poisonwing, Stasis Sting!" The flying snake Monsuno flew up and attempted to strike Wingblade.

Chase retaliated by yelling, "Evo, Sonic Wind!" Evo circled around, sending out a blue shockwave from its wings.

And that was that. And Chase knew why Charlemagne didn't send Driftblade out—it would have been an instant giveaway on who she was.

But before anyone could say anything, there was a muffled _pop_ and something black whizzed by his face. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Dax go stiff—big warning sign.

Chase whirled around to see five pale-skinned people wearing black suits. The four on the sides had sunglasses on, but the middle one had none…showing crimson eyes. _Aw, not Alpha!_

"You seven keep running away—but it's completely useless," Alpha said. "You should just give up and come home to the Institute with us."

"Ch-Chase?" Bren asked shakily. "What are we gonna do?"

Chase took a deep breath, rallying his options. They could _try_ using the Monsunos…but Alpha probably had that anti-Monsuno weapon with him. They could run for it…but where to?

Only one way to go. "Evo, return!" he said. The Monsuno complied. Seeing his action, the others hesitantly followed. He saw Alpha raise an eyebrow. Then Chase said, "Guys, straight up."

"Are you crazy?!" Jinja asked after a few split-seconds.

"Maybe. But it's the only chance we've got. Let's go!" Knowing that he was making a very-huge and probably-fatal mistake, he leapt up and snapped his wings open, the others following.

Immediate response: "WHAT THE—?!" Telegonus shouted.

Latinus stuttered, "T-The news was right! And it's them!"

"They angels?" Argius said dumbly.

And for once, Medea was speechless.

The seven of them all had to immediately go into evasive maneuvers to avoid bullets—the Hunters sure loved using guns to try and shoot them down. He saw Charlemagne flinch slightly—a bullet yanked out a secondary feather, which was quickly gone with the wind. He knew that one had as much chance as kicking up dust-storms of trouble as his own lost feather did—Chase's lost feather had been one with a bit of cyan on it, which is no natural color for a bird. And no bird had bright-gold black-tipped feathers.

He just had a feeling.

* * *

They gradually altered their course so that they were heading northeast, toward the Auror Province. Dax sped up slightly so he was flying alongside Chase. "You know Klipse is gonna be after us, right?"

"I know. It was the only chance we had."

"Why couldn't we just use the Monsunos?" Bren asked.

It was Jinja who answered that. "They have some kind of weapon that can take a Monsuno down in less than ten seconds. We would've never gotten away."

Thunder boomed faintly in the distance. Chase squinted, and said, "We might want to fly lower." They were at their usual altitude: eighteen-thousand feet. Oxygen was a bit thin that high, but it wasn't a problem for them, strangely.

The forest below them had changed to a mixture of deciduous and conifer—they were getting close to the southern border of the Auror Province. Bren looked ahead at the sky and said, "Yeah. It looks like there's a thunderstorm coming in."


	8. Chapter 8

The thunder had gotten louder and the sky had grown darker, so they were flying only about twenty feet above the highest of the rugged hills and treetops. Some instinct was telling them all to keep low. Although Charlemagne would have rather been on the ground at that moment.

"Chase, can we land?" Otulissa asked. "I don't like the looks of the sky."

"Yeah…why don't we—"

He cut himself off when they heard a loud bang. It also took a few moments for Charlemagne to register the sudden explosion of pain in her right wing. And even then she was still staring idiotically at the blood that was quickly matting her feathers, all while she was losing altitude way-too-fast. She heard Otulissa shout something, and she and two others dove down. Focused on attempting to land, she spread her uninjured wing to its full seven-and-a-half foot length, but not fast enough.

She flipped a few times on the ground while her momentum wound down, each one painful. She stood and slowly extended her injured wing. The mere movement caused her to hiss in a breath—the bullet didn't lodge, but it clipped her good.

Moments later the others landed. "What just happened?" Chase asked, eyes wide. The others were scanning the area on high-alert.

"Vhat does it look like?" Charlemagne spat.

Then they heard rustling and all looked—to see a group of Hunters. Of course it was Beta—_and_ Alpha. She shivered involuntarily—something about him just freaked her out. She felt like she knew him from somewhere other than the Institute as well…

"Get out of here," Chase muttered to her quietly.

"_Vhat_?!" She looked at him incredulously.

"Scram!" he said louder before glancing at Otulissa, who nodded.

Before she had time to prepare herself for what the younger girl was going to do, Otulissa shouted, "Run!" firmly.

Charlemagne decided that she hated Otulissa ability somewhat right then. She heard someone behind her, and at first she thought it was one of the others—she yelped when a clawed, scaled hand shredded part of the back of her shirt.

Thankfully the white-haired boy—Beyal, as she finally was getting their names down—had dashed up and tackled the Hunter. It had been Alpha.

Afterwards she just kept running.

* * *

Beyal relied purely on impulse for the fight. His conscious mind was elsewhere…they had all gotten a variety of new instincts and natural—or _un_natural—traits.

Such as internal compasses—they always knew which way was magnetic north.

As well as with their "abilities." Dax's had a huge downside, as he grudgingly revealed. He now disliked crowed places to a degree due to being aware of anyone within fifty feet of himself.

At nighttime or in a dark place, any bright light would temporarily leave Jinja blinded.

And Beyal's camouflaging required utmost focus. Even the slightest distraction would make his visible form flicker, and in direct light his outline was visible.

There was one last fact that had Beyal slightly annoyed. Lately it had become harder for them all to stay still; they were constantly on edge. This had made it incredibly hard for him to meditate. And whenever he did manage to calm down enough to meditate, his ability acted up, making him vanish, which scared the others when they didn't know where he was.

Dax shouting his name snapped him back to attention, and he ducked and struck in a white blur at a Hunter, who stumbled away in pain.

The white-haired monk wasn't one for violence. It was a _completely_ different story when it came to the Hunters, however.

He didn't care what happened to them.

* * *

Bren felt completely wired. Everything looked like it was in superfocus—the magic of adrenaline. Two months ago he would've run away screaming from a situation like this. But that behavior was not suited for this exactly situation—he wasn't exactly the same person anymore, either.

A month in a place like the Institute tended to change people.

All of them had very suddenly hit the "weirdly-strong" point, even him. One huge downside was that with their metabolism now, they needed at least seven-thousand calories a day—they _never_ hit that amount in a day.

And he supposed that time in the Institute helped him in a twisted way. Yeah, he was scared to death by needles, chemical smells, and Hunters now, but everything else…wasn't so bad anymore.

* * *

Chase knew he had limits still. These Hunters seemed to be a new batch—they were way more enduring than the other ones.

_And faster!_ He thought as he barely avoided being clawed in the face. Acting on instinct, he flicked a wing into the Hunter's face.

The Hunter hesitated just long enough for Chase to land a hard hit to the Hunter's shoulder. Hard enough to make it go onto its knees.

Dax was handling three Hunters on his own, never even getting touched while he landed some pretty heavy blows.

Beyal was pretty much a blur, tackling two Hunters at the same time.

Jinja was going toe-to-toe with Beta. Chase knew she'd be okay.

Bren and Otulissa were working as a team on four others—Chase was incredibly proud of his longest-standing friend.

Then he heard a shriek, and after whaling on another Hunter's face, that made a bad choice in going right for him, he turned to see what happened—and froze.

Jinja had somehow been backed up against a tree, and Chase realized that Beta had reopened the old wound on her leg. Impulsively he ran up and kicked Beta hard. Dax also came up, tackling the yellow-eyed Hunter down.

Apparently this was enough for Beta, for when he got up he stumbled. He bared his fangs. "I'll be back," he threatened. "And you'll be sorry you didn't give up when you had the chance!" He and the other Hunters melted into the shadows, thoroughly whipped.

Once Dax confirmed that they were gone, Chase went to check on Jinja. "You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah." She tried standing up straight, but flinched and sat down. "Or not."

"Hang on." He rummaged through one of the bags that Otulissa had "bought," searching for a bit of clothing that would be good for a bandage. He hesitated slightly before taking one out.

"Chase?" Jinja asked when she was which one he was tearing up to make a bandage. "Isn't that—"

"My jacket? Yeah."

She frowned. "I can make one myself you know."

"So?"

Chase failed to notice the knowing look Bren, Dax, and Otulissa exchanged knowing looks with each other.

"What about Charlemagne?" Otulissa asked. Chase paused after putting the bandage on Jinja's injury, thinking. He had a few possible choices, but…

"We'll wait here for a few hours. If she doesn't come back, we'll look for a while. Other than that, I think it'll be safe to assume she's somewhere safe."

* * *

Her wing was still bleeding, even though she'd been pressing on it for a long time. Said limb felt heavy, useless, and hurt like hell. Nothing compared to what she'd gone through in the previous month, though.

And every time she moved it too suddenly—or at all, really—it started bleeding a bit more. Every time she heard something suspicious, she froze for a whole two minutes, and afterwards would painfully start moving again while ignoring her hurt wing's screaming protest. She'd also splashed through five different streams—Hunters _were_ part dog, after all. Of course it had to start POURING RAIN, though.

So now here she was, slogging her way through wet woods, wet brush, wet clay mud, wiping water out of her eyes, getting more chilled, more miserable, and hungrier by the second.

She figured she would go a bit further before turning around…

Then she stopped, blinking a few times in disbelief. She saw three vehicles moving rather slowly on the road she had come to, and not just any vehicles. STORM H-Trams.

One part of her wanted to stay where she was, where they would definitely see her…but another part wanted to hide. She shook her head. Staying put would be the best thing to do…was it?

* * *

Trey almost lost his footing when the H-Tram stopped suddenly. "What's the meaning of this?!" he snapped at the driver.

The soldier said nothing, instead pointing stiffly. Puzzled, Trey looked—and froze. There was someone standing a bit in front of the H-Tram, about a foot away. Said person was soaking wet, and honestly looked a bit nervous.

But that wasn't what had his attention. What had his attention was that the person…well, she had yellow eyes. Trey only knew one person with yellow eyes. _Is that…Charlemagne?!_

One way to be sure—he ran out, ignoring the rain. "Commandant? Is that you?" he asked.

"…yes."

He paused. She sounded a bit weird—her voice was quieter than usual. That unfortunately only supported the thought he had on where she had been. Something else got his attention as well. "Wait, is that blood?"

* * *

They got back to the base only ten minutes later. Currently it was only he, Trey, and Charlemagne in the infirmary—it had been empty on Charlemagne's order, so not even Head-Medic Memphis was there.

Jon Ace had been very surprised to see Charlemagne in the first place. Well, _shocked_ would've been a more precise word. One thing he didn't understand was how nervous she looked—which was odd, because she rarely showed emotions like such. Actually, he was unable to recall a time when she looked nervous or something like that.

Currently Trey was trying to convince her to let him look at whatever injury she had. Finally she gave in, muttering something Jon couldn't make out.

Trey's eyes narrowed a bit. "Did a mountain lion try going for you?"

No response. Something else was biting at the edge of Jon's mind. "Ma'am, where exactly were you?" he asked. He needed the answer to this one.

Her gaze went blank for a few moments, and she didn't respond. Suddenly Trey froze, and the Commandant-Marshal stiffened. "Trey, what…?" Jon started.

He was ignored. "Ma'am…what's _this_?" Trey asked in a choked voice.

"Vhat does it look like?" At that point Jon walked around to look—and stopped.

Trey obviously did not think out his next sentence: "Holy crag you have wings!"

She sighed, and had obvious sarcasm in her voice when she said, "No Trey, really? I didn't notice zhem STICKING RIGHT OUT OF MY BACK!" She shouted the last part. She shifted one of the said limbs, and Jon saw what was clearly a bullet injury on the left one—although it was just clipped. The feathers were a glossy-gold with the secondary feathers having black tips. And it was just a guess, but he supposed that the one he was looking at might have a full length of seven-and-a-half feet.

Jon was very glad no one else was around at that moment—otherwise it wouldn't have been good. There was one other thing he needed to know, however.

He decided to go with the simple way to word it while Trey was attempting to bandage the injury. "Commandant, how did you _get _the…wings?" He trailed before finishing. First she gained that blank look again, which turned to one of fear—a first.

As soon as Trey finished getting the bandage onto the wing-wound, he asked, "Ma'am, what's—?"

They both had been unprepared for her to suddenly keel over, completely unconscious.

* * *

Chase scanned the area for the fortieth time from the top of a tree. Jinja was also on top of a tree looking around, since she was the one with night-vision. "I don't see anything," she said.

"Same here," Chase replied, sighing.

"Well, there is a STORM base around here," Bren put in. "She might've gone there."

"Then that's that." Chase glided down from the top of the tree, Jinja behind him. "We'll stay here for the night before moving on."

Beyal frowned. "Can we wait for one more day? Do not forget she was injured."

"You're right on that one," Chase said, slightly puzzled that he spoke up for her. "But we can't risk it. Sorry Beyal." The white-haired teen frowned a little before lying down near the fire.

One thing they had all rapidly become aware of was that it was darn-near impossible to sleep on their backs comfortably, due to the wings.

But as they were winding down for sleep, Dax suddenly stood up, looking around. "Dax, what's wrong?" Jinja asked.

Before the Lowlander could say anything, a puck-like object bounced into the clearing, releasing white smoke. Chase knew what it was an instant too late, and he blacked out.

* * *

Charlemagne woke up very suddenly, not recognizing where she was—but only for a moment. It took her a minute to remember she was in a STORM base, in the infirmary.

What had happened again…? She remembered—Commander Ace had asked _how_ she got her wings…which resulted in a few flashbacks that were enough to cause her to black out. One in particular.

One other thing she didn't understand—she felt incredibly twitchy. Probably due to being in a somewhat-confined space…she could blame being stuck in a small room for a whole month.

She winced as soon as she stood up—her wings were completely sore, especially the one that had been shot…for some reason it didn't hurt as much as she thought it would—she'd have to check it later. First things first—she needed to find one of the commanders.

She almost walked right into Trey as soon as she went into the hall. "You're awake," he exclaimed, looking a bit surprised.

"And?"

"Uh, are you feeling?"

"Fine," she replied evenly. She could tell that he wanted to make a comment on her wings just by looking at him.

And make a comment he did. He cleared his throat and said, "Your—wings, um…they look nice."

The comment surprised her slightly, and she was about to say something, when Jon suddenly interrupted. "You both need to see this," he said, looking worried.

He led them to one of the communications rooms, and pointed at one. The video that came up onto the screen caused the Commandant-Marshal to shudder. It was Beta. _"Long time no see, Commandant,"_ he sneered, cruel smirk on his face like always. Of course he was untransformed.

"Vhat do you want?" Charlemagne asked. She tried to keep her voice emotionless, but of course that failed epically.

_"You know already,"_ he said. _"And to help convince you to come along quietly, you might want to see this."_ He stepped to the side, revealing…

The other six, all tied up and looking scared. Reaction was immediate—she froze. Trey looked startled, while Jon looked…well, he didn't look happy. Then both he commanders seemed to notice something very crucial, for they suddenly looked totally shocked. She did as well.

All six of them had their wings visible. "Them too?" Jon asked, sounding hoarse. She realized it was directed at her. She nodded slightly in response.

Jon suddenly turned around and began walking out of the room. "Where are you going Ace?" Trey asked. The black-haired commander jumped slightly at the look the other commander gave him.

"I'm going to rescue them, that's what. They didn't bother hiding their signal."

Only one course of action seemed to make sense after that.

* * *

Chase was trying and failing at keeping calm.

They had all woken up to find themselves tied up and in the presence of twenty Hunters, counting Beta. Out of all of them, Beyal was the most terrified. Both Jinja and Dax were doing their best to calm him, but it wasn't working that well.

There was one other thing that had his attention. There was one Hunter who was just observing everything…who had ice-blue eyes. He KNEW that one…that was the guy who had overseen that strange green fluid that had started it all being put into them.

"Chase?" Bren whispered. "What are we gonna do?" He sounded scared.

"Not sure yet B," Chase replied. Otulissa was staying quiet. Out of all of them she seemed the calmest. So he asked why.

"We'll get out of this," she promised. "I just know it."

Jinja looked at the younger girl, and looked like she was about to ask how she knew so, when there was a shout of alarm from one of the Hunters…

…right as three familiar Monsunos crashed into the clearing. Driftblade, Riccoshot, and Goldhorn.

Behind them were their controllers—Charlemagne, Trey, and Jon. The latter two Chase was merely surprised to see, but Charlemagne? Though at the same time, he had a feeling he knew why.

They had all gone through too much together to be considered enemies now.


End file.
